Jun 12
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School has been out for a week and 11-year old Lily is in creative heaven. It’s like she’s been set free. She always seems to be in the middle of some ‘project’. She says she’s writing a book and working on song lyrics. Yesterday, she spent hours on this collage. She called it a ‘collage […]
Reading a post from CaffeinatedAutismMom on the SPDNetwork.com called ‘Meltdowns Happen’, brought back memories of just a few lovely Lily freak outs, most of them because she was unable to control her emotional response to sensory overload. Didn’t realize that until later, but looking back, it’s obvious.
Of course, as an infant, I remember her crying and crying at the slightest noise, or, as a toddler, crying when the trash truck honked its horn, running away from her Daisy Scouts meeting in Kindergarten because it was too chaotic and loud, holding her hands over her ears and shaking during school events in the gymnasium, hating the school bus because it was so loud, getting out of the pool and refusing to participate during swim team tryouts because, again, too loud and chaotic.
We figured out pretty early that Lily was sensitive to noise. But, it wasn’t until 2nd grade or so that we realized she liked soft clothing. In 4th grade, she refused to wear jeans anymore and I had to search out soft pants with an adjustable waist. She had one shirt she loved to wear and I figured out that it was Modal fiber, which IS very soft. In 5th grade, when I asked her why she always pulled a hoodie up over her head, Lily told me that it blocked the bright overhead lights at school, muffled loud sounds and made her feel good. Now that she’s in 6th grade, Lily has become the Queen of Jeggings. They’re perfect for her sensory needs. Soft, skinny, tight and of course, stylish.
Now that she’s 11, Lily’s meltdowns (in public anyway) are few and far between. Occupational Therapy has helped and so has daily movement. Lily’s learned coping skills. She’s learned to advocate for herself and she regulates her emotions better now. Sometimes she’ll remove herself from a situation when she realizes it’s making her uncomfortable. We’re still always on the lookout for triggers though and so are her teachers and the friends and family who know her. Sometimes just warning her that an event might be loud is enough. Now, if she does end up in a loud and chaotic situation, her discomfort usually shows up as irritability or agitation.
This topic of sensory sensitivities also made me think of an interview I did with Jeffrey Freed. He’s an educational therapist and the co-author of the book, ‘Right-Brained Children in a Left-Brained World.’ He’s also what you would call Twice Exceptional. He talks about his sensory issues as an adult and a child.
Because both of my 2E girls have sensory issues, their OT suggests that it would be a good idea for them to do some sort of movement before school in the morning. The benefits of just a few minutes of activity are supposed to last for hours, helping them to be organized, calm and focused at school.
It’s been hard in the winter just getting them out of the house in the dark and cold, so I thought that the Xbox Kinect might be a good way to tempt them into moving in the mornings.
We purposely never had any kind of gaming device, because we knew that our girls would get hooked. But when we thought about the sensory benefits and the fact that I could use it to workout in the mornings at home, we decided to buy one. So far, it’s been a great success.
There seem to be lots of games that require left/right coordination which will be great for Zoolander’s bi-lateral confusion. Seems to be a good workout for all of us too… and the best part is that Zoolander, at least, has been rushing to get ready for school in the morning so she’ll have free-time to play. Sweet.
Lily left for Outdoor Lab today. It’s a 5-day overnight trip to a beautiful piece of mountain property owned by the school district. All sixth-graders attend. They apply what they’ve been learning all year in the outdoor setting. This restored ranch has served as an hands-on outdoor school since 1961.
Lily was excited to go and husband said she didn’t seem nervous at all when he dropped her off this morning. I think it’s because we prepared her for it. Plus, every summer she goes to overnight camp for 2 weeks so, she shouldn’t have a problem being away from home.
We started preparing her last fall, when we attended an Open House at the Outdoor Lab school on a crisp Saturday afternoon. The aspens were turning gold and the view of the snow-capped mountains was stunning, but it didn’t take long to realize that we hadn’t prepared Lily well enough for the visit.
Off the bat, the organization of the event was a little sketchy. Apparently the idea was to wander around the area, stopping at different stations to get more info. But that’s exactly the opposite of the way Lily wants to learn about something new. She wants to know the big picture first and fill in the details later. This is often a trait of Visual-Spatial learners… whole-part learning. She said, “I just don’t get it. What are we doing here? What is Outdoor Lab?” She began to get agitated and peppered us with questions… “Where do I sleep, where are the bathrooms, where will I change, where do we eat, what are we going to be doing all day, what teachers will be here?… ” I told her we could ask at each station but that wasn’t enough for her.
Finally, we came upon a presentation given by the Outdoor Lab principal. I thought he might give a good overview. But the school nurse spoke first and she talked on and on about medical forms etc, etc. I couldn’t even listen because now we were trapped in this presentation and I could only think about the fact that we still had to visit the bunkhouses to show Lily where she’d be staying, and we were running out of time. I forced my family to get up and leave while the nurse was talking. The principal noticed and commented, “Well, I guess some of us already know what they need to know.” My husband was upset with my rude departure. But I felt like, with a twice exceptional kid like Lily, that sometimes you have to do what you have to do. Having her visit the bunkhouse before we left was more important to me than the nurse’s feelings.
Afterward, I emailed the principal and explained why we left early. He was very understanding and invited us to bring Lily up again for a private tour.
About a month before Outdoor Lab, husband took Lily up for a tour and they explained everything to her. In school, her teachers were also preparing all the students, explaining what they would be studying and giving them a daily schedule.
So, by the time she left this morning, Lily seemed confident and comfortable. I think she’ll have a great time. She just does so much better when she’s fully prepared for new experiences.
Unfortunately, Zoolander probably won’t have the same opportunity as her sister. There’s talk of suspending the Outdoor Lab program because of recent school budget cuts.
Brainhugger 